[Scott Dorsey]

In article , Tobiah wrote:
I have a pair of mics that claim Equivalent Noise Level of 5dB-A.
Another mic claims 70dB Signal to noise ratio. How can I compare
the noisiness of the two mics?

You cannot. The first number is actually a measurement of noise floor,
but because it's A-weighted it's going to ignore all the low frequency
noise (and that's primarily what you're going to have in a condenser
microphone).

The second number isn't a measurement of noise floor at all, but is a
measurement of the _difference_ between the noise floor and the overload
point at some unknown frequency.

Neither one of these measurements is measuring what you want to know.
They are measuring two different things, neither of which is what you want.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."